Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date- 5 April 2321

Time- 04:14

Location- Southern Region, Blossom district, Sky Blossom City, Outskirts

I looked at the jet-black monster worm. Though I could not make out what expression it was making, it seemed like it was looking down on me. Unable to defeat me in the battle of wits and constrained by the devil merchant code from using its strength on me, the only way the devil could think of gaining the upper hand was by showing off its wealth. A little snobbish for a devil but I had left it no other option but to resort to this. Otherwise in what sane mind would the devil make a promise with the devil merchant code as a witness stating that it would conduct an exchange for its recommendation quota with me if I were to provide it something of fair value? Since when did the devil start to do fair trade?

But the devil was not wrong to think that I could not come up with a fair exchange for its devil merchant code recommendation quota. Though I had amassed a little fortune, I did not have high-level ingredients on me except for my share of phantom sword woods from Jill's plantation and a few broken runes however all of them put together were nowhere near to being considered a fair exchange for the devil's recommendation quota.

I was a card soldier, I never felt the need to have high-level ingredients. Even if I were to ever require one, I could always depend upon Anna. If you look at it this way, the devil's bet was right, except for my special mortal soul I did not have anything worth considering as a fair exchange for his recommendation.

",,," looking at the silent monster worm, his customer, Belphegor felt as if a tiny fraction of his grievance against this customer of his was beginning to relieve but this wasn't enough, he wanted to taunt the customer but he never had to fight someone by showing off wealth because, in the dark realms, there was a wise saying,

'If you want to live long don't show off your wealth.'

Belphegor strongly believed in this saying. Just to show others that he was poor he would let his demon army starve for days and hold back their pay for months. Not to forget the unnecessary and unreasonable pay cuts, he did all this to show others that he was poor not because he was greedy. And now all of a sudden he was showing off his wealth to a monster worm, Belphegor was out of his element, he knew how to hoard wealth not how to act prodigal.

However, Belphegor was experiencing a new kind of feeling showing off his wealth, a feeling that he had not experienced while making use of his brain or brawns. He did not know how to explain this feeling but it felt good, especially since his strength and wit were of no use here.

"You must be really confident to have played this move," I said to the devil feeling its snobbish gaze look down on me. I am not going to lie, the devil's snobbish gaze bothered me. Be it this life or the past one, I always hated snobbish people. It was one of the reasons why I made sure to separate time from my research work to amass wealth.

"Kid, it is not that I am confident. But I know for a fact that only those that don't have anything else will choose to summon a devil merchant as a last resort to gain what they want in exchange for their life span, their soul, the souls of their loved ones, sacrificing innocent souls, etc," Belphegor spoke these words out of his ages of experience as a devil merchant.

"Well, fact or confidence, you will regret making a promise with the devil merchant code as a witness," I said having thought of what would be of fair value to exchange for the devil's recommendation quota.

"Hahaha, let me be the judge of that, just show what you got," Belphegor laughed out loud hearing the customer say he will make him regret his actions. If he had a soul jade for every time someone said this to him, by now he would be the wealthiest devil in the dark realms.

"How about a demigod soul that should be enough for your recommendation quota, right?" I had demigod Redfall's soul stored away in the calamity trap array that I specially created to trap his soul and had hidden him away in a heathen stone prison. I planned to exchange that for the devil's recommendation quota.

Due to my realm restrictions, I cannot use a demigod's soul but it would fetch me a lot in the black market and if I were to auction it, then it would definitely fetch me a big fortune. But there was a problem.

Redfall's soul was being tracked by Asong, and her goons so I hide it in Bloodette's dungeon to escape the tracking of the demigod Redfall's soul candle card created by his mother, Yin Widow, currently in possession of Asong.

With Asong and other related authorities tracking Redfall's soul, I could not use it for anything else. So it was in my best to sell it to the devil for his devil merchant code recommendation quota. Though I did not have it on me, I can give it to the devil at a later date.

"A demigod's soul?" Belphegor asked the monster worm in shock. Even before he could fully enjoy the joy of being a snob he was now experiencing the face-slapping of his life.

"Yes, a demigod's soul. To be accurate not just any demigod's soul but a demigod's soul that has been through the river of souls in the cycle of reincarnation. This will make it easier to refine the demigod's soul into an ingredient," I said earnestly.

Refining a demigod's soul into an ingredient was very difficult as the demigod's will in the soul would hinder the refining process but the once the soul has been through the river of souls, it would experience time erosion of the river of souls, making it easier to subdue the soul's demigod will and refine it. But fishing a soul out of a river of souls was not an easy task. No known successful attempts of having done that were noted so far. So a demigod's soul that has been to the river of souls was a very rare commodity.

Interestingly, Demigod Redfall's soul wasn't in the river of souls for long enough to be affected by the time erosion of the river of souls, not to mention he had cultivated the bloodline meaning of the blood rule, so even after death his will would put up a good fight if anyone were to try and refine him but I forgot to tell these facts about Redfall's soul to the devil this details.